Nearly all of you who know me in real life (as well as some of you who only know me from online) know of my continuous bemusement & frustration with fashion, the most recent of which is my on-going quest to find a suite (blazer +/- slacks) that I can wear to the conference in two weeks that a) fits and b) have pockets. It was an arduous journey fraught with treachery and well-meaning but confused sales reps and, until today, fruitless.
As I've posted to facebook: I have found a blazer with pockets. Victory is mine.
20120930
20120929
20120928
20120927
Courtesy of the explosion and how our negative air pressure ventilation works it's been raining a small but steady amount of soot indoors these past few days. Today a bunch of guys came in near the end of the day and cleaned out the air vents with a mixture of chemicals and giant blow-dryers; I am now waiting for Claritin to kick in because I started to have and am having a mild allergic reaction to something and it's making me want to crawl out of my skin.
Labmate joked that she was getting high off of the fumes. I couldn't help but think how potentially dangerous it is to be high in a lab setting. Or, you know, it could lead to a scientific break-through.
Labmate joked that she was getting high off of the fumes. I couldn't help but think how potentially dangerous it is to be high in a lab setting. Or, you know, it could lead to a scientific break-through.
20120925
20120924
This will degenerate into a rant about lab safety
So: I have a sprained toe (again) and a fairly recent dream where I had to get up at around 3am in the morning because a hurricane is blowing in and I had to save the flamingos by herding them into the shelter. I stayed (in the dream) until the (dream) morning and ended up having to drag a lot of giant tree bits out of the city hall / conference center place that the weather wrecked. On the plus side, this is far more interesting than dreaming about protein gels (which I did, before this). However, I haven't decided how I feel about the fact that flamingos have evidently infiltrated my subconscious.
And now we're going to move on to the lab safety portion, because as fascinating as my flamingo dream and oft-sprained toe are, they both kind of paled in comparison to real life, honest-to-goodness explosion.
And now we're going to move on to the lab safety portion, because as fascinating as my flamingo dream and oft-sprained toe are, they both kind of paled in comparison to real life, honest-to-goodness explosion.
20120918
My order of minicards from moo.com came in!
I ordered a set of half-cards for the career fair at the neurosci conference next month, along with a card holder, and right now I don't have a better way to describe them other than "helplessly adorable". Everything seems to be decent quality (though I'm having a bit of an issue putting the keyring on the card holder, on the plus side, that probably means it's not going to fall off by accident either), though I'll post back after the conference to let you guys know how well it traveled.
I also have 3 coupons that it came with for my friends. No really that's what the instructions say. moo.com to business cards, to me, is kind of like ThinkGeek for presents. It's just...shiny and cute. For my definition of cute. They're 15% off for the first order so if anyone's interested in them let me know -- they don't seem to come with expiration dates. (Also if you're a student with an .edu address there's an additional discount, which I duly took advantage of.) The print & delivery time is pretty quick too and they give you an exact date of arrival when you order ...and mine promptly came two days early.
The only downside is that for half cards the lowest number you can order is 100. It's pretty cheap, considering what I'm getting and the tons of options I got (I only have 2 designs for 100 but you can have 100 cards with...I forgot how many it is...10? Different designs printed on one side, in full color), but still, 100! What am I going to do with all of them?
Well we'll find out, I guess.
I ordered a set of half-cards for the career fair at the neurosci conference next month, along with a card holder, and right now I don't have a better way to describe them other than "helplessly adorable". Everything seems to be decent quality (though I'm having a bit of an issue putting the keyring on the card holder, on the plus side, that probably means it's not going to fall off by accident either), though I'll post back after the conference to let you guys know how well it traveled.
I also have 3 coupons that it came with for my friends. No really that's what the instructions say. moo.com to business cards, to me, is kind of like ThinkGeek for presents. It's just...shiny and cute. For my definition of cute. They're 15% off for the first order so if anyone's interested in them let me know -- they don't seem to come with expiration dates. (Also if you're a student with an .edu address there's an additional discount, which I duly took advantage of.) The print & delivery time is pretty quick too and they give you an exact date of arrival when you order ...and mine promptly came two days early.
The only downside is that for half cards the lowest number you can order is 100. It's pretty cheap, considering what I'm getting and the tons of options I got (I only have 2 designs for 100 but you can have 100 cards with...I forgot how many it is...10? Different designs printed on one side, in full color), but still, 100! What am I going to do with all of them?
Well we'll find out, I guess.
20120910
20120909
Why brain, why?
I just had a dream where a couple of friends and I were at the zoo and one of them collapsed and was not breathing and there was no heartbeat. I asked one of them to call 911 and he handed me his phone so I ended up dialing but it turns out he was here to visit (we forgot) and the phone put us through to HIS local dispatcher and I found out when I said zoo and he asked to confirm if it's the zoo in XX city and I realized "sh*t, not local" and had to explain where we are, blanking momentarily on our location because I was so terrified, and then he transferred us to the local dispatcher and my friend's crappy cell phone connection cut out --
(Note: I've never had personally called 911 before so I have no idea if they transfer people if you called the wrong dispatcher to get to where you are or what. I would prefer never have to call 911.)
--at which point I just gave up and asked my other friend to call 911 because the person who's collapsed is just lying there and no one's DOING anything and my brain keeps screaming "brain damage in two minutes at me" (not strictly accurate -- it depends on age and temperature but it's more like 5 minutes) so I had to roll him over and try to perform CPR and it was REALLY frustrating because I kept explaining to the two who are not on the phone that they have to watch because I'll need help in a few minutes (approximately 10-15min before I start to get dizzy because my lung capacity's improved a little but not THAT much) because it isn't easy and the dispatcher takes time (average time depends on location but it's around 15-20min here) and they keep interrupting with questions like how's he doing (how do you THINK? I have to breathe and pump his heart for him) and just, UGH.
It was a very real dream. There was patches of dying-from-summer-heat grasses in the area near the entrance, kneeling on the cement is uncomfortable, and my fingers were shaking so badly that it took me two tries to get 911 (dialed 6 by accident the first time).
On the plus side, I correctly remembered to curl my fingers correctly, the depth of compression, and the 2 breath per 30 compression rule. Congrats, Red Cross, you have managed to instill information all the way into my subconscious. Now we just have to wait for another nightmare to see if the first-aid part took.
Actually no, dear powers that be, if you are listening, I would like to petition to have Friday and Saturday nights be nightmare-free-zone. Because otherwise I end up awake at 7am on the weekend and unable to go to sleep because it's bright outside and I have too much adrenaline burning through me-- its half-life might be about 2-3 minutes but I think it takes up to 30min to clear my system and I'm jittery for about an hour afterwords. This is not conductive to my plans to sleep-in at least until 8am on the weekends.
(Note: I've never had personally called 911 before so I have no idea if they transfer people if you called the wrong dispatcher to get to where you are or what. I would prefer never have to call 911.)
--at which point I just gave up and asked my other friend to call 911 because the person who's collapsed is just lying there and no one's DOING anything and my brain keeps screaming "brain damage in two minutes at me" (not strictly accurate -- it depends on age and temperature but it's more like 5 minutes) so I had to roll him over and try to perform CPR and it was REALLY frustrating because I kept explaining to the two who are not on the phone that they have to watch because I'll need help in a few minutes (approximately 10-15min before I start to get dizzy because my lung capacity's improved a little but not THAT much) because it isn't easy and the dispatcher takes time (average time depends on location but it's around 15-20min here) and they keep interrupting with questions like how's he doing (how do you THINK? I have to breathe and pump his heart for him) and just, UGH.
It was a very real dream. There was patches of dying-from-summer-heat grasses in the area near the entrance, kneeling on the cement is uncomfortable, and my fingers were shaking so badly that it took me two tries to get 911 (dialed 6 by accident the first time).
On the plus side, I correctly remembered to curl my fingers correctly, the depth of compression, and the 2 breath per 30 compression rule. Congrats, Red Cross, you have managed to instill information all the way into my subconscious. Now we just have to wait for another nightmare to see if the first-aid part took.
Actually no, dear powers that be, if you are listening, I would like to petition to have Friday and Saturday nights be nightmare-free-zone. Because otherwise I end up awake at 7am on the weekend and unable to go to sleep because it's bright outside and I have too much adrenaline burning through me-- its half-life might be about 2-3 minutes but I think it takes up to 30min to clear my system and I'm jittery for about an hour afterwords. This is not conductive to my plans to sleep-in at least until 8am on the weekends.
20120906
He was honestly trying to be comforting
Thesis adviser: "You can't survive in science unless you have thick skin. It's actually worse than in politics, because in politics your friends will stick up for you, even if you are a jerk."
Followed by something along the lines of "in science your friends are supposed to be your harshest critics because they're supposed to help you succeed by giving you their honest opinion &c &c".
...is it so egregious to want friends whom I can depend on for both honesty and moral support? I did not ask this out loud, because it sounds like the sort of thing that will prompt an "if you are a REAL scientist" sort of rant.
And of course, if you're not REALLY serious about Science, that makes you a Bad Scientist.
I miss the days when being a bad scientist meant someone doing bad science (i.e. producing sloppy unreproducible results / running badly designed experiments / fail to ask the right scientific questions).
Followed by something along the lines of "in science your friends are supposed to be your harshest critics because they're supposed to help you succeed by giving you their honest opinion &c &c".
...is it so egregious to want friends whom I can depend on for both honesty and moral support? I did not ask this out loud, because it sounds like the sort of thing that will prompt an "if you are a REAL scientist" sort of rant.
And of course, if you're not REALLY serious about Science, that makes you a Bad Scientist.
I miss the days when being a bad scientist meant someone doing bad science (i.e. producing sloppy unreproducible results / running badly designed experiments / fail to ask the right scientific questions).
20120905
Well that was different
This morning on my way to the bus stop I was waylaid by an unknown young man who tried to offer me a ride in his truck to the beach.
1) It sounds like the start of a joke. It FELT like the start of a joke -- especially since I initially thought he was asking for directions.
2) This wouldn't have been too shocking, I suppose, if it was in the evening, but this happened around 7:30am. Mornings are quiet time. It (the context) was confusing.
3) It vaguely made me think of that scene from Disney's Aladdin. Except instead of Aladdin and a flying carpet I got a boy in tank top and a white pickup truck on a thankfully public street. (Oh geez a pickkup truck why.) (Huh, given the thing with strange man showing up on her bedroom balcony unannounced, at night, I suddenly understand why she keeps a tiger as a pet.) (Though for the parents out there: despite of what Disney says, tigers do not make appropriate pets for your daughters so, for the safety of you and yours, just get her a dog. Mutts tends to be less neurotic and hardier than purebreds.) I think there's some kind of connotation about guys offering girls rides. I'm still working on figuring out when people are talking with metaphors and when they're talking about this sort of things literally.
4) What is he even trying to accomplish??? As I've mentioned, it was around 7:30am in the morning. The only people I see around that time are shift-workers, students, and occasional senior citizens. Maybe he's well meaning and genuinely in the habit of offering random rides to strangers (that early in the morning?), but can you imaging him dropping off random shift-workers, students, and seniors at the beach? What.
Conclusion: it was strange and people are weird.
1) It sounds like the start of a joke. It FELT like the start of a joke -- especially since I initially thought he was asking for directions.
2) This wouldn't have been too shocking, I suppose, if it was in the evening, but this happened around 7:30am. Mornings are quiet time. It (the context) was confusing.
3) It vaguely made me think of that scene from Disney's Aladdin. Except instead of Aladdin and a flying carpet I got a boy in tank top and a white pickup truck on a thankfully public street. (Oh geez a pickkup truck why.) (Huh, given the thing with strange man showing up on her bedroom balcony unannounced, at night, I suddenly understand why she keeps a tiger as a pet.) (Though for the parents out there: despite of what Disney says, tigers do not make appropriate pets for your daughters so, for the safety of you and yours, just get her a dog. Mutts tends to be less neurotic and hardier than purebreds.) I think there's some kind of connotation about guys offering girls rides. I'm still working on figuring out when people are talking with metaphors and when they're talking about this sort of things literally.
4) What is he even trying to accomplish??? As I've mentioned, it was around 7:30am in the morning. The only people I see around that time are shift-workers, students, and occasional senior citizens. Maybe he's well meaning and genuinely in the habit of offering random rides to strangers (that early in the morning?), but can you imaging him dropping off random shift-workers, students, and seniors at the beach? What.
Conclusion: it was strange and people are weird.
20120902
In which I have sudden sympathy with John
Adventures with the self checkout machine:
Me: scanned an item and put it in bagging area.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Me: puts item back.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Repeat.
Out of order machines are SUCH fun when you're the one to discover that it's out of order.
Me: scanned an item and put it in bagging area.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Me: puts item back.
Machine: "Unexpected item in the bagging area! Please remove item."
Me: removes item.
Machine: "Item has been removed from bagging area! Please return item."
Repeat.
Out of order machines are SUCH fun when you're the one to discover that it's out of order.
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